What are Intangible Assets?
What cannot be held, touched, or felt but is priceless in value?
This question is great to bring up at family gatherings or friendly get-togethers. Odds are you will get a plethora of responses. Many will be reasonable while others will be completely outrageous.
The answers, if they meet the definition provided above, would describe intangible assets. Everyone’s list of intangible assets will be different but would probably include such examples as:
- Skills
- Health
- Fitness
- Knowledge
- Friendships
- Family relationships
A common denominator between your intangible assets is you are ultimately responsible for taking care of them and no one else. And with this comes a big responsibility.
How Do You Take Care of Your Intangible Assets?
The answers will be as varied as the intangible assets themselves. However, it may help if we consider an exercise by famed investor Warren Buffet proposed in a recent interview.
Imagine if Warren gave you a car absolutely free of charge. The car could be anyone you desire. You could choose a Ford or Ferrari. A Buick or Bentley. Any car imaginable.
But there is one catch… this car will be the only one you will ever own for your entire life.
Knowing this, how would you take care of the car?
Most likely you take extremely good care of the car to ensure it runs in tip-top shape and for as long as it can.
You only have one mind and body. Treating them as the only ones you will ever have, just like the car, would be to keep both operating at the highest levels possible. This means keeping your skills sharp, increasing your knowledge, and maintaining a well-balanced life of fitness and health. Friends and family too need special care to ensure they grow and blossom into beautiful facets of your life.
We so easily forget we are here but for a fleeting moment of time. So, take care of your intangible assets, because they are indeed the only ones you’ll ever have!
